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PVT (formerly Pivot) Tickets

Event Details

PIVOT PVT. In celebration of their New Name and New Album, PVT (formerly Pivot) announce their 2010 national tour.

Church With No Magic, the follow-up to PVTs 2008 album O Soundtrack My Heart, released on July 19th through Warp Records, reflects a literal and sonic transformation for the band.

From the start, there was an urgency to secure the sound that would become Church With No Magic. Just one month after they handed over the master of O Soundtrack My Heart to the label boss, the three members of PVT were in the studio in Sydney with engineer Burke Reid.

Church With No Magic was a different process for PVT. For a start, they found themselves in the same countries at the same times. It took them from Sydney to a basement studio in London with one of Europes largest collections of vintage synthesizers including the Yamaha CS80 famously used for the Blade Runner soundtrack - to a grandmothers music room in a 120 year old house in the countryside near Paris, juggling live commitments along the way.

Their efforts would take the form of Church With No Magic, an album that builds upon the anthemic synth-driven instrumental movements for which PVT is renowned, along with the power of their visceral live shows. The sound has been brilliantly tempered and expanded by the trio into brooding, melancholic experimental pop - an amalgam of rock synthesis, propulsive rhythms and huge melodic strength. Its a dark and expansive sound that PVT has made substantial movements on this record to make their own.

The most notable development on Church With No Magic would have to be the vocals of multi-instrumentalist Richard Pike. While the band have often used vocals in the past, particularly live, this album sees them taking on a more central role within the songs, as layers of Richards voice build amongst the music, adding an intense melodic focus to the contorting rhythms and bewildering space generated by the band.

Rich has always sung, ever since we were kids, but its just not something that ever happened in PVT in such a direct way until now, says brother Laurence.

The other obvious change is the band name itself, from Pivot to PVT. The change was a necessary one, the result of an unexpected legal claim from a band in the United States that used the same name.

It was frustrating and kind of ridiculous, says Richard. But it became quickly obvious that it was a legal battle in the US we may not even win, and one we just couldnt afford to lose. So in the end, we werent fazed by it. Altering the name just seemed to be another step in the process for the record to come out and be heard, an attitude that seems to reflect the ongoing evolution and burgeoning momentum within the band.

First single, Window, is typical of the dense collisions of PVTs sound world. Its a heady combination of vocal experimentation, swirling keyboard arpeggios and pounding drums, all topped by the bands adeptness for emotive harmony and clear melodic punch, distilled into three minutes.

Dont miss PVT as they launch their new name and their new album Church With No Magic this August